What can I say, Zanzibar was supposed to be the relaxing end of a rather busy Safari Holiday and Doubletree and its Team delivered just that. Location is quite a way from the airport (About 1 hr car transfer that the hotel very kindly organized for us), but it’s worth it. The resort seems to be the last one on the Northern tip of the Island, hence not to many people wandering up and down the beach to reach other hotels, making it a lovely and quiet spot.
The room (book sea view if available, its defiantly worth the extra money!) was lovely and very clean, Staff in all areas of the hotel were friendly and helpful and really made our stay memorable. Even though the hotel is lovely and you definitely would not have to move at all from your sun lounger if you were so inclined, I can recommend to explore the island just a little, as Stonetown has a fascinating history and is well worth a visit. If that is not your cup of tea there are also diving trips and snorkeling excursions available that seem to be very popular. And if only sun and beach will do that’s still fine, because the hotel delivers both in abundance.....Lovely place indeed!!!!

I stayed here with a friend after we finished an 11-day Northern Circuit safari. We took a taxi from the airport which took nearly an hour. We arrived at the property and were greeted with a cool towel and a cold drink, which was perfect as it was very hot and humid. The lobby area was pretty attractive, and although roofed, otherwise open-air.

We were then taken to our room which was pretty nice and big. We had two good size beds which had nice bedding and were very comfortable. However, the sheets and comforter smelled of mildew. We mentioned this to the front desk but we never got all new sheets. There were plenty of drawers for clothes, although the drawers tended to stick. This could be because it was so humid. The bathroom was plenty big too. However, we didn't get anything better than just-less-than lukewarm shower water, and when you showered, a pipe leaked behind the toilet (again, never fixed despite requests).

The room also had very strong air conditioning and a ceiling fan, which was great. The only problem is that Zanzibar is subject to numerous power outages - some last a few minutes, others last an hour or more. But this is an island-wide issue, so I can't hold this against the Doubletree. The safe in the room worked well and was plenty large.

Staff was very friendly throughout, even if not necessarily efficient. We arranged a day trip to a spice farm and Stone Town and the arrangements were great, and so were both parts of the tour (private). We also had them arrange for a van to the airport and it was only $10 more than the taxi arranged at the airport ($70 versus $60) so I recommend arranging transportation through the hotel - the air conditioned, spacious van was nice.

Zanzibar is incredibly hot and humid and I've never experienced heat and humidity like it. I found it much hotter and more humid than Thailand and Cambodia. But the ocean in the afternoon was nice. The pool was rather warm so not as refreshing as the ocean. Of course, you couldn't go in the ocean until the afternoon because of the tide issues. But afternoons in the ocean were perfect. And the water was just beautiful and there were no big waves, and the beach was huge with soft sand.

There was plenty of seating at the beach and by the pool, and plenty of towels. There's a swim-up bar at the pool too.

We had breakfast every day at the hotel and it sufficed, although it wasn't anything special. We had a couple of buffet dinners at the hotel too but they were pretty bad. The other nights, we walked down the beach (when you get to the beach, walk left) and tried other places. There are countless restaurants/bars when you walk left . . . the farthest we went to was the Z Hotel, which was a little less than a 15-minute walk. However, we kept finding the same crap - beautiful, fresh seafood that they overcooked beyond belief. Well, at least we saw a couple of shooting stars and got to see the area. If you're going to eat elsewhere, bring a flashlight, which will help you considerably on the beach. I had one that I wore around my head for safari.

Overall, a pretty nice stay, albeit with some issues, mostly the food.

If I could I would have given this place 3.5 stars. It wins out big for facilities. Its absolutely beautiful, the lobby is nicely decorated, the pool is warm and clean, there is a swim up bar. The beach is clean, and the water is picture perfect. They have free wifi in the rooms, and a business center. The rooms are also nice. I was soo excited to see this place after a long hard safari 4-5 days of relaxation was just what the doctor ordered.

The downside was the food at night was not great at all, and staff in the restaurant was a little laid back for my liking. Too much hakuna matata. We actually ended up just having burgers and room service every night after. The breakfast buffet was legit. They had a nice selection, no complaints there.

The other frustrating part about this place was the front desk was absolutely useless when it came to advise on stone town, or local things. I was looking for a specific type of souvenir's, and they had no clue. All they knew was everything is in stone town. The standard line was "goto stone town its there, ask someone there". I'm not even sure they understood me half the time. Zanibar is not a huge island, the staff should be knowledgable about there own island. They didnt even try and look it up. Mind you stone town is about one hour drive. So staying in Nungwi you should plan on concentrating on the beach and water sports. Coming back and forth to stone town is definitely a pain.

Overall: I think its a good value for its location, but they should invest a little more in training the staff on customer service and cooking.

We spent few weeks in Zanzibar and always stayed in 4 star hotels. DoubleTree was really the best one we tried. They offer great services, clean and comfortable rooms, very friendly and helpful staff. It important to notice the cleanliness everywhere and the great location of this hotel!!!!! If we come back in Zanzibar, the DoubleTree in Nungwi will be the automatially added in our program.